After the January dry spell, February looks to be full of more promising theatrical releases (less than two weeks until we see Hail, Caesar!). But if you find yourself snowed in this February, Netflix has got you covered. Just don’t expect to see any of the titles mentioned below available on the streaming service – these movies are about to vanish.

In the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, James Cameron makes several remarks about The Hurt Locker, directed by ex-wife and Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow. Of particular interest was his claim that The Hurt Locker, amongst others,would have been better in 3D.

U.S. Copyright Group’s plans to sue people for downloading films via Bittorrent has not gone as smoothly as planned. Progress on some of its initial lawsuits has been stymied by Time Warner Cable, and other cable companies might also cause problems. But as of this writing, it is still planning on moving forward with a new round of lawsuits for people who illegally watched The Hurt Locker. These latter lawsuits are backed by Voltage Pictures, the company that financed the film.

Now, a recent e-mail by Voltage producer and president Nicolas Chartier reveals what he really thinks about the lawsuits. Specifically, if you disagree with Voltage’s tactics, you’re a moron, and he hopes your family and your kids end up in jail for stealing.

Remember that lawsuit from awhile back that targeted 50,000 individuals who pirated a bunch of relatively unknown indie films like Uwe Boll’s Far Cry? It was filed by the U.S. Copyright Group (hereafter referred to as “The Group”) in an attempt at creating a new “revenue stream” for the financiers of those films.

Turns out that, as promised, those lawsuits were just the beginning, and U.S. Copyright Group is now upping its game. Its next target? People who pirated The Hurt Locker.Read More »

Earlier today, Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore sent an e-mail out to his mailing list (a list I belong to) listing his top 20 films of 2009. In the e-mail, Moore hails the best movie he saw in 2009, a film which wasn’t nominated, and wasn’t even shown in the United States — a film titled Troubled Water. Moore writes:

“I’m confident that, if you had had a chance to see it, you would likely agree with me that this is a brilliant film, a rare gem. …. When the film was over, I sat there amazed and wondering, “Why can’t I see movies like this all the time?” What is wrong with filmmaking, with Hollywood? Why are most films just the same old tired assembly line stuff — sequels, remakes, old TV shows turned into movies, predictable plots and storylines… “If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the movie.” But “Troubled Water” was not like that — and therefore its distribution to the theaters of America was, in essence, doomed.”

Moore went on to criticize those who praise the Best Picture/Director winner The Hurt Locker for being unbiased or taking no political sides:

…like that’s an admirable thing! I wonder if there were critics during the Civil War that hailed plays or books for being “balanced” about slavery, or if there were those who praised films during World War II for “not taking sides?” I keep reading that the reason Iraq War films haven’t done well at the box office is because they’ve been partisan (meaning anti-war). The truth is “The Hurt Locker” is very political. It says the war is stupid and senseless and insane. It makes us consider why we have an army where people actually volunteer to do this. That’s why the right wing has attacked the movie. They’re not stupid — they know what Kathryn Bigelow is up to. No one leaves this movie thinking, “Whoopee! Let’s keep these wars going another 7 years!”

You can read Moore’s full e-mail, which includes a defense of James Cameron’s Avatar and his personal list of the top 20 films of 2009, after the jump.

So it’s come to this: Nicolas Chartier, one of The Hurt Locker’sfour producers, has been banned from attending the Oscars this year due to remarks he made about his film in an e-mail, which violated Academy rules. If The Hurt Locker wins Best Picture, Chartier will have to collect his Oscar at a later date. Hit the jump for all the details of The Hurt Locker’s sad, unexpected, bump-ridden path towards Oscar gold.

This year’s Oscars aren’t for another week, but this past weekend was a big one for awards. We’ve already posted on the Visual Effects Society awards that were largely handed out to Avatar and Up. But France’s big awards ceremony, the Cesars, went down over the weekend, with Jacques Audiard‘s widely acclaimed A Prophet scoring nine wins. And the American Society of Cinematographers handed out a slightly surprising best of ’09 while the Cinema Audio Society honored sound mixing achievements in ’09. Read More »

The Fine Brothers love to spoil everything, In past years, we’ve featured their popular videos 100 Movie Spoilers in 4 minutes and Spoiling Every Best Picture Winner in Oscar History. After seeing all of the big movies of 2009, the brothers are back once again. Their latest video spoils 50 movies released last year (including all ten best picture nominees) in one take, in under 4 minutes. Watch the video now, after the jump.

And if it isn’t completely obvious already, please be warned that the following video contains spoilers.Read More »

The BAFTA (the British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards happened over the weekend, and Brendon filed his report on the site. To promote the award show, the BAFTA commissioned illustrator Tavis Coburn of Dutch Uncle to create a series of posters, one for each of the five Best Film nominees of the year (Avatar, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Precious, and Up in the Air). I absolutely love the retro 1960’s/1970’s style. Check out all five posters after the jump.Read More »